The Same Page
by Caeruleaneyes30
Summary: She never really totally understood what he meant until it was too late.


**This is just a short one shot. To me the whole Andy and Sam thing has done a complete reversal. I think the characters will eventually get back together in the finale episode of season 3. Hope you enjoy this read.  
**

Disclaimer: The author of this fan fiction does not, in any way, profit from this story and all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creators.

Quietly she sat, in one of the Coffee House's comfy easy chairs, gazing out of the cafe's front bay window. It was early morning. Actually it was real early, like six in the morning early. It had been close to a month, since the break-up, and yet she was still having troubles sleeping. At least this morning she didn't wake until 4:30. It was later than her usual waking hour of late. This morning, she laid in bed until 5:00, eventually giving up on sleep returning, and simply getting up to shower and dress. It was too early to arrive at work, but she could not sit at home alone. The silence tended to play havoc with her emotions. She needed to go somewhere with hustle and bustle and noise. All three were welcoming distractions. Now she was sitting in the Coffee House, watching people as they walked by, some stopping to come in for their morning cup of caffeine burst.

She felt as though she was living in a state of irony for the last month.

"_All you wanted was to keep being a cop. All I wanted was you." Sam had uttered those exact words to her nearly nine months ago. The day she returned from North Bay and granted her job back._

She never really totally understood what he meant. She did want him. She wanted both him and to be a cop. She told him, before she left, that she was going away for the both of them. They would be together, both professionally and personally. It would just be in three months. She did not understand why he thought she chose the job over him. She hadn't chosen one over the other. Until he uttered those two statements she thought they had been on the same page.

_"I can't be a cop and be with you too." Sam had said those ten words to her nearly a month ago._

Now she understood. Now Sam was the one who wanted to keep being a cop and all she really wanted was him. Today she would risk her career and stay with Sam. She would risk anything. Today she truly comprehended how Sam felt when she left for North Bay. How he saw her essentially choosing the career over him. He needed her and she chose to leave in order for them to continue their careers. No, for her to keep being a cop. Today she would stay with Sam and tell the review board, "That it was none of their business what she did when she was not at work. It would only be their business if she was committing a crime. She was not involved in committing any crimes."

Nine months ago she apologized. She thought Sam had forgiven her and they were moving forward together. They were on the same page. As she sat now in the "Coffee House" she realized she had been wrong. He had been with her, but he had not totally forgiven her for her decision all those months past. There were signs, but she simply did not see them. Most mornings he was rushing out her door, to go meet one of his friends, instead of waiting and heading to work together with her. He received a phone call, after sex, and jumped out of bed, to get dress, and rush out her door. Essentially he had left his naked girlfriend in bed alone.

_"I'm such an "idiot". I should have known better. I should have stayed with Sam. I should have told the review board it was none of their business. I should have seen the signs. He never completely forgave me for leaving. It caused him to not be fully committed to our relationship. We were not on the same page."_

**Fifteen Hours Later**

Sam sat in a waiting room at St. Micheal's Hospital in Toronto. He had been there for three hours. Half the department was there. Oliver tried to talk to him, as did Noelle, but he was not "emotionally" reachable.

He was out on patrol, with Diaz, when the call came over the radio that an officer was down. He and Diaz, with sirens blaring and lights flashing, sped to the scene to help. It never occurred to him, when he was driving, as to whom it could be that was down. He was just operating on adrenaline trying to reach the crime scene and trying not to think of Jerry. His heart nearly stopped when Oliver rushed over and tried to hold him back from approaching. That's when the realization hit that it was Andy who was down. He actually punched Oliver in the nose to break away, from the hold he had on him, to reach Andy. She was alive, but fading fast. Her blood was everywhere. The first bullet entered into her pelvic area. The second bullet hit her shoulder. It took Diaz, Collins and Epstein to pull him back to let the paramedics work on her.

Now he was sitting in this waiting room on the surgical floor. She had been in surgery for over three hours. No one could tell them anything. Even Clair was unable to obtain any information. Frank was still trying to locate Tommy. Nash said something about him being away on a trip to Buffalo, New York.

_"God, please help." _

Five hours and still no word other than she was still in surgery,

_"God, please help."_

Six hours passed before the doors opened and the surgeon walked out to speak to everyone.

"Officer McNally is in post-op."

It was all Sam really heard.

_"She was in post-op which meant she was still alive."_

He never heard the doctor discussing the blood loss, or that the shoulder injury was a clean shot through and through and did not do much damage or that the pelvic injury was extensive. The bullet nicked her pelvic bone, when it entered, spearing a shard of bone into her bladder. The bullet damaged her fallopian tube before lodging in her uterus. They managed to repair all the damage and save all her organs. Her condition was serious but stable.

Sam heard none of it. He only heard she was still alive.

Clair was permitted to go back and see her for a few minutes.

Once everyone had heard the news, most of the officers decided to leave for either the station or their homes. Oliver, Traci and Chris stayed behind and sat with Sam. Clair came out fifteen minutes later with tears in her eyes.

Traci approached Clair, took her hand in hers and lead her over to a chair between Oliver and herself.

Two hours later everyone was still sitting and waiting.

Three hours later everyone was still sitting and waiting.

Fours hours later a nurse informed them that Andy would be moved downstairs one floor to ICU.

Five hours later they were all sitting in a waiting room outside ICU.

_"God please help. How many more hours are you going to make us wait? God please help."_

Finally Clair was allowed in to sit. She came out twenty minutes later and walked over to sit beside Sam. She wasn't sure what to make of this man. He was older than her daughter. She had always pictured Andy with someone younger and more her own age. He was carrying around baggage. She could tell. He had broken her daughter's heart, yet here he was grief-stricken. He needed to see her. That she knew.

"Sam, I made arrangements for you to see Andy and sit with her awhile." She said quietly.

Sam was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He looked at Clair and silently nodded.

"Take your time and be with her awhile. She's not awake, but I know she will appreciate you sitting there by her side. She'll sense you Sam. She'll feel your presence."

Sam stood up and walked over to the door of ICU. He slowly pushed it open and entered. A nurse approached and a moment later escorted him to Andy's bedside. She looked so weak and fragile. There were tubes coming out of both her arms, machines were all around her beeping, an oxygen tube was under her nose and he could see her bandaged shoulder.

Sam sat down in the chair next to Andy's bed and took her hand in his.

"Andy, I'm here. I'm sorry I wasn't there today. I'm sorry I wasn't there the last month. I should have been. I love you...I love you. You had me after the first day we worked together. I fell for you that day. I don't know how you did it, but you did. You managed to wiggle your way into my heart within a few short hours. It nearly killed me to watch you date Luke. When you became single again, I should have asked you out then, but I didn't. I didn't want to get hurt. I think I was...I am scared of the pain from heartbreak. You chose Luke over me and I guess I was scared, if you were given the opportunity between myself and someone else again, you would chose someone else. Eventually you would leave and I would be hurt. I took the undercover assignment to distance myself from both you and my feelings. It didn't work out well. I couldn't get you out of my head and then one day I turned around and you were standing there. You found me somehow. I guess we're magnets. Then after the undercover assignment went south I felt you chose the job over me and our relationship. I know you apologized, but I guess even though we were moving forward together, I was still hurting over your decision. A month ago I pushed you away. I've regretted it every second of every day since. I used the job, our age difference, just about anything as an excuse, when really I was just scared. When Jerry died, the pain I felt was almost unbearable. I scared myself. What would the pain be like now if I lost you to someone else or to the job? I didn't think I could be a cop and with you too. I chose the job because I thought it would be a less painful path. I was wrong. I'm scared Andy. All I want is for you to come back to me. I need you to hang on and come back to me, to us. I miss you. I miss us. I want to fix the mess I have made with us. I love you Andy. I want to spend the rest of my life together with you."

Sam gently reached over and brushed Andy's bangs out of her eyes before standing up and placing a kiss on her forehead. As he sat back down and placed her hand once again in his he heard a small moan. It was so faint that he wasn't even sure if he had actually heard a moan or if it had been his imagination. A second later he felt her hand squeeze his.

"I love you too." She whispered.

A moment later she felt his hand on her cheek, his forehead against hers and his tears dripping down on her closed eyelids.

_"Maybe they were now on the same page." Andy thought._

**What do you think?  
**


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